The Heart of Hell
by Crowley's-demon-lover
Summary: I am a hunter sent to help Sam and Dean try to stop the apocalypse but they discover from Castiel that I have a dark side, that I'm the true mate of Lucifer and I belong by his side. They fail to stop the seals from breaking and when Lucifer rises he comes looking for Sam, he meets me and I take my position by his side. Lucifer/OC and possible minor Sam/OC Rated M for safety
1. Joining The Fight

I had gotten the call from Bobby two days ago. I was a hunter and he was like a . . .uncle to me, calling me and asking me to help the infamous Winchesters.  
Everyone knew that Dean had been raised from Hell, but that's all they knew so here I was, making my way to the brothers who were currently in Phoenix.  
When I found them, Sam and Dean both just stared at me.  
"I'm Sherrie, the hunter Bobby sent, told me something serious was going down and he wanted me to help. I'm the best hunter, after you two of course," I told them.  
"And modest," Dean snuffed.  
"I'm not modest, it's just what I've been told. So, what's the something serious?" I asked.  
"You know that I got-"  
"Pulled out of Hell? Yeah," I cut Dean off.  
"Yeah, well, getting pulled out of Hell by an angel apparently broke the first of the 66 seals," Dean told me.  
"The 66 seals? What's that? Some show at Sea World?"  
"Ha, funny. No, there are 66 seals that need to be broken to free Lucifer from the cage and I broke the first of them, bringing on the apocalypse," Dean explained to me.  
"Okay, first of all, the apocalypse? Are you kidding? And second, Lucifer? Lucifer as in Satan, the guy with the horns?" I raised my eyebrow and started laughing. "You expect me to believe that? Lucifer isn't real, angels aren't real, none of the bible is real."  
"I didn't believe any of it either until I met Castiel . . .err, the angel that raised Dean," Sam spoke up.  
I looked past Dean to Sam, taking in his dark, shoulder-length hair and good looks, and crossed my arms.  
"So, you're buying into this too? You don't think Castiel could be some schizo pretending to be an angel?"  
"When you see the guy show you his wings, it kind of convinces you," Dean said, shortly.  
"Dean, you know what we have to do. We need to get Castiel to prove it," Sam told his brother.  
"You mentioned my name? You need me to prove something?" A deep, gravely voice said from behind me and I spun round, letting out a squeak.  
"Where the hell did you just come from?"  
"I came from heaven. What do you need me to prove, Sam?"  
"This is Sherrie, she is a hunter sent to help us with the err-with the apocalypse. It's a bit hard though when she doesn't believe it, doesn't believe in angels or Lucifer," Sam told to 'supposed' angel.  
Every time Lucifer was mentioned, I felt something inside me that I couldn't describe or explain.  
"So you would like me to prove that angels exist and the apocalypse is going to happen?"  
"Yeah, something like that," Dean said.  
Castiel didn't say anything but a bright light filled the room and dark shadows in the shape of wings spread out on the wall behind him.  
I took a step back and gasped. "It's true, you're . . .you're an-but I thought angels had fluffy wings, halos, you know, that type of thing."  
"Read the bible. Angels are warriors of god. I'm a soldier," Castiel told me.  
"Okay, so you're real and-and-"  
"And you'll have to start fighting you fair share of demons if you're going to hunt with us. We'll teach you how to exorcise them, the devil's trap and everything else you need to know," Dean said.  
Castiel stopped looking from Dean to Sam and focused on me, tilting his head to the side and frowning. "You have a dark side."  
"A dark side? What's that supposed to mean? You're pretty prejudiced for an angel. Yeah, so I have tattoos and like heavy metal music and know who Charlie Manson is but that don't mean I have a 'dark side'," I rolled my eyes.  
"I am just telling you what you already know."  
"I seriously don't know what you are talking about," I shook my head confused.  
"Castiel, ease up on her a bit, yeah? She just got here and just learnt about the apocalypse and angels and demons and Lucifer," Dean said to Castiel and that unknown feeling stirred inside me again.  
"Listen guys, I'm going to go out to the vending machine and get a drink, do you want anything?"  
"No, we're good," Sam smiled at me and I walked out of the motel door.  
"You know the seals cannot be broken and that Lucifer cannot be freed and you also know why, but now there is another reason why Lucifer must be kept in the cage," Castiel told Sam and Dean sternly.  
"Oh yay, more good news," Dean said sarcastically.  
"I do not understand your definition of good news."  
"Castiel, what's the other reason?" Sam asked.  
"The girl that just left this room is Lucifer's true mate, just as Sam is Lucifer's true vessel. If he should be freed and they should meet, then they will unite and the bond will be too strong that nothing will be able to break it. She will take her place by his side and together they shall rule. Lucifer ruling alone will be dangerous and tragic but with another beside him . . ." Castiel explained. "You need to stop this from happening. Now. And you must keep her away from demons as much as possible."  
Sam and Dean looked at each other and both groaned, internally.  
Great! As if they didn't have enough on their plates!


	2. Chuck

"So wait, she's a hunter and she's with us, and she can't go near demons? Why the hell not? Do you know how hard that's going to be?" Dean cried.  
"If any demons see her then they will be aware that Lucifer's mate is here. If that is known, you will have hundreds of demons trying to get her so they can lock her up and keep her safe, ready for when Lucifer rises," Castiel informed them.  
"Okay, so how are we supposed to try and stop the apocalypse and keep demons away from her, keep an eye on her?" Sam asked.  
"I will let you figure that out."  
"Wait, hang on, one more question. What are we supposed to tell her? The truth?" Dean asked Castiel.  
"She is not to know the truth. I explain to her . . .some of the things to her, but she must not know the truth. I will need you to stay with me, my people skills are still-"  
"You still suck at talking to people," Dean nodded. "But let's leave it until tomorrow so we can get to know her a little."  
Castiel nodded and vanished.  
When I came back in, it was just Dean and Sam inside the room.  
"Where's the angel?" I asked.  
"I have no idea, he zaps himself all over the place," Dean answered.  
"So, wanna explain about this apocalypse business? You broke the first seal, have any others been broken?"  
"Half of them. We have a demon on our side, working with us," Sam said.  
"Excuse me?" I raised an eyebrow.  
"Look, we're taking all the help we can get," Dean argued.  
I shrugged and changed the subject. "So, what seals have already been broken? What seals are there, ever? I don't know anything about them."  
"Well, there's the rising of the witnesses," Sam said.  
"They're people who have seen or died at the hands of supernatural . . .beings, came of as ghosts. They were forced to rise and attack people so they were really pissed off, as you can imagine," Dean told me.  
"Castiel told us that apparently 20 hunters were killed. Bobby was attacked by two young girls," Sam added.  
"He didn't mention that," I frowned.  
"It was full on out of the Shining," Dean said.  
"Okay, the rise of witnesses, sure. What else?"  
"The rising of Samhain," Sam said.  
"Who's Samhain?"  
"He's the demon of Halloween, raised by two witches. We managed to exorcise him and send his ass back to hell though."  
"Some of the seals are just . . .nutty, don't make no sense. Like everyone in a fifteen-man fishing crew in Alaska, they all went blind," Dean said.  
"A teacher in New York killed his students. All of 66 of them," Sam told me.  
I couldn't believe what they were telling me; 66 students, a student for each seal.  
"How long have we got left then?"  
Sam and Dean looked at each other before Dean replied, "not long so let's go and get a drink, huh?"  
Dean got up and grabbed his jacket, not giving me or Sam a chance to object.  
The next morning, I knocked on the brothers door and waited for them to answer.  
When Sam finally answered, I walked in and Castiel was sat at the table, looking like he was waiting for something.  
Dean came out of the bathroom, drying his face on a towel and when he saw me he said, "finally, let's get this over and done with."  
I looked round and Sam and Castiel both had expressions on their face that said they knew what Dean was on about.  
"What . . ." I didn't know what to say, what to expect.  
"If you're going to help us with the apocalypse then you need to do what we say," Dean stared at me.  
"I don't have to be here, you know? Act like a parent and I'll walk out that door," I pointed behind me.  
"Wow, good match," Sam mumbled under his breath.  
"What?" I looked at him.  
"Nothing."  
"I am afraid you can't leave. Not now that you are here," Castiel said.  
"Excuse me? Why the hell not?"  
"You are obviously not as aware of your dark side as was thought. Something will happen to you if the last seal is broken so the demons are going to be hunting you, trying to capture you ready for when that happens," the angel explained.  
"Wait, what will happen to me?" I cried out but was answered with only silence.  
"You have more sympathy for Lucifer than you do my father and that sympathy can be used against you so you will only be able to help as these boys see fit."  
I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out and watched Castiel vanish.  
"You feel sorry for Lucifer? Really?" Dean screwed his face up.  
"I'll explain one day," I told him, looking at the floor. "So I have to do everything you say?"  
"Yes, And first thing you have to do," Dean said and pulled down his top to reveal a tattoo.  
"Too late," I smiled, smugly, and showed him the tattoo that I'd already gotten.  
Dean started to answer but was interrupted by his phone ringing.  
"Hello . . .yeah, she's here . . .listen I've got to talk to you about something so I'll ring you later . . .yeah, I guess we've got time . . .wait, what? You wanna run that by me again? . . .Okay, thanks," Dean said and closed his phone. "That was Bobby, he found something we might be interested in."  
"Well?" Sam his hands.  
"Apparently there's a series of books written about us, it involves you and Madison, the croatoan, skin walkers, you name it so we're going to go and find this guy and find out what the hell is going on," Dean told us what Bobby had said.  
"Yeah, let's go," Sam agreed and headed out the door.

* * *

When Dean looked at me, I just shrugged my shoulder. "Hey, apparently I go where you go now. I'm never gonna do Bobby another favour again."  
I let out an annoyed sigh and followed Sam.  
Once we found where the author of the books lived, we headed there and forced our way in.  
"Are you a hunter?" Dean quizzed.  
"What? No, I'm a writer," this author called Chuck said, nervous.  
"Then how do you know so much about demons? And Tulpas and changelings?" Dean advanced on him and Chuck fell backwards onto the sofa.  
"Is this some kind of misery thing?" he asked.  
"We're not fan," Dean repeated for the third or fourth time.  
"I'm Sam and that's Dean," Sam pointed to himself and his brother.  
"Sam and Dean are fictional characters. I made them up! They're not real!"  
Dean grabbed Chuck and dragged him outside to see all the weapons Dean kept in the trunk of his car and when they came back I looked up to see Chuck sweating and heading straight to his alcohol.  
"Oh! I'm not hallucinating. You're not a hallucination."  
"Nope," Dean shook his head  
"Then who are you?" Chuck asked me.  
"I'm a hunter sent to help Dean and Sam keep the jack in the box," I answered and Dean laughed at what I said.  
"Oh. Ok. Well, there's only one explanation. Obviously I'm a god," Chuck said to himself.  
"You're not a god," Sam rolled his eyes.  
"How else do you explain it? I write things and they come to life. Yeah, no, I'm definitely a god. A cruel, cruel capacious god. The things I put you through- the physical beatings alone. Did you really have to live through the bugs?"  
"Yeah," Sam answered.  
"And the ghost ship?" Chuck asked.  
"Yes, that too," Dean confirmed.  
I was looking from one of them to the other and to the next, my neck hurting and starting to feel dizzy.  
"And you carried on writing?" I asked Chuck.  
"Yeah . . .this was all so much easier before you were real," Chuck put his head in a hand.  
"We can take it, just spit it out," Dean ordered.  
"You especially are not going to like this."  
"I didn't like Hell."  
"It's Lilith. She's coming for Sam," Chuck looked at both of the brothers, seeming to forget about me.  
"Coming to kill him?" Dean repeated.  
"When?" Sam asked.  
Chuck started to look a little scared and before answering, took a deep breath.  
"Tonight."


	3. Lilith

Later in the day, Dean and Sam decided they were going to do everything they could to change what Chuck had written so Dean left Sam at the motel, taking Sam's laptop and me with him.  
"Where are we going?" I asked, climbing into the passenger side of the impala.  
"We're going to see Chuck," Dean told me and drove out of the motel car park.  
When we got there, it appeared Chuck was out so I watched Dean pick the lock and let us in.  
The sound of a key in the lock came fifteen minutes later and when Chuck walked in, carrying a brown bag and six-pack, he didn't look the slightest bit surprised to see us there.  
"Dean . . .lady."  
"Sherrie," I said my name.  
"I take it you knew we'd be here," Dean said, sat in a chair while I was sat on the sofa.  
"You yeah, not her," Chuck nodded his head in my direction.  
"Why do I get the feeling there's something you're not telling me?" Dean sat forward.  
"What wouldn't I be telling you?"  
"How you know what you know for starters!" Dean stood up  
"I don't know how I know, I just do!" Chuck cried.  
"That's not good enough! How the hell are you doing this?" I watched Dean get closer to Chuck and shove him against the wall.  
"Dean, let him go," Castiel appeared from nowhere and ordered Dean. "This man is to be protected." "Why?" Dean let go of Chuck and looked at Castiel, just as I did.  
"He's a Prophet of the Lord."  
"You . . .you're Castiel . . .aren't you?" Chuck asked with amazement.  
"It's an honor to meet you, Chuck. I . . .admire your work," Castiel nodded in response.  
"This is the guy who decides their fate?" I asked.  
Castiel stopped flicking through the book he'd picked up and answered, "he isn't deciding anything. He's a mouthpiece-a conduit for the inspired word."  
"The word? The word of god? What, like the new, new testament?" Dean's face scrunched up.  
"One day these books," Castiel held up the book. "they'll be known as the Winchester gospel."  
In unison, me and Dean and Chuck all said, "You got to be kidding me."  
"I am not . . .kidding you," the angel replied.  
"Whatever. How do we get around this?" Dean asked.  
"Around what?" Castiel said.  
"The Sam-Lilith love connection. How do we stop it from happening?"  
"What the prophet has written cannot be unwritten. As he has seen it, so shall it come to pass."

* * *

That night, Dean and Sam were in the motel room arguing because Dean was trying to get Sam to leave and Sam refusing, wanting to take Lilith on.  
Apparently, Lilith was going to break the final seal so if Lilith was dead, the seal couldn't be broken.  
I couldn't take the arguing so I let myself out while they were wrapped up in their brotherly debate. "Well, I feel really stupid for doing this. But . . .I have to help some way. I have to. I'm praying, okay? Come on. Please," I walked around outside, looking at the sky.  
"Praying is a sign of faith. This is a good thing, Sherrie. It's a start to conquering the darkness inside you," Castiel's voice said from behind me.  
"So, does that mean you'll help us?"  
"I'm not sure what I can do."  
"Help Dean drag Sam out of here before Lilith turns up," I cried.  
"It's a prophecy. I can't interfere," Castiel shook his head.  
"We're supposed to sit around and wait for it to just happen?"  
"I'm sorry," Castiel apologized but I refused to listen and just started to walk away. "Sherrie. Sherrie." "What?!" I shouted and spun round.  
"You must understand why I cannot intercede. Prophets are very special, they are protected."  
"Yeah, so I've heard."  
"If anything threatens a prophet, anything at all, an archangel will appear and destroy that threat. Archangels are fierce. They are absolute. They're heavens most terrifying weapons."  
"And these archangels, their tied to prophets?" I asked.  
"Yes," Castiel said.  
"Sooo . . .if a prophet was in the same room as a demon-"  
"Then the most fearsome wrath of heaven would rain down on that demon. Just so you understand . . .why I can't help," Castiel looked around, innocently, and then looked back at me, slightly nodding his head.  
"Thanks Castiel," I smiled and ran back to the motel room.  
After managing to pull Dean away from Sam, I told him what Castiel had told me and Dean rushed to get Chuck, taking me with him, not wanting to leave me easy prey to demons.  
We were on our way back with Chuck when Lilith appeared in the motel room with Sam.  
"Hello Sam." Sam turned round to see a woman in a white dress, long blonde hair falling over her shoulders.  
"I've been waiting for you," Sam said to her and watched her eyes turn white. "Why are you here?"  
"To talk," Lilith smiled at him and Sam just scoffed.  
"I'm not interested."  
"Hmm . . .even if I'm offering to stand down? From the seals . . .the apocalypse . . .all of it?"  
"Why would you back down? Why now?" Sam asked.  
"Turns out I don't survive this war. Killed off. Right before the good stuff starts," Lilith answered.  
"What do you want?" Sam's eyes narrowed, suspiciously.  
"For it to go back the way it was. Before I had angels to deal with 24/7. The good old days, when it was all baby blood, all the time." Lilith replied.  
"And what do you want in return?"  
"Your head on a stick. Dean's too. Call it a consolation prize. So, what do you say, Sam? Self-sacrifice is the Winchester way, isn't it?"  
Sam glared at her. "You really think I'm stupid enough to fall for this?"  
"I make a deal, I have to follow through. Those are the rules and you know it. Are you really so arrogant that you would put your life before the lives of six billion innocent people? Maybe it's all the demon blood pumping through your pipes. Man after your own heart" Lilith looked at Sam, tilted her head and then walked toward the bed. "Going once, going twice."  
"Fine," Sam gave in.  
"Swell. By the way, a contract with me will take more than a kiss. A lot more. Don't worry, the dental hygienist in here? She wants it bad," Lilith sat on the bed and patted the spot beside her.  
What Chuck wrote was happening. There really was no way of stopping this. But that wasn't going to stop Sam.  
He watched the demons eyes turn white as she ran her hand up his leg, grabbed his collar and pulled him down on top of her.  
When he got close enough, Sam kicked into action and grabbed the knife that was by the bed and tried to stab her with it but she flipped him over.  
Outside, me, Dean and Chuck could hear fighting in the room and, as quick as possible, threw the door open and pushed Chuck in.  
"I am the prophet Chuck!" He shouted.  
"You've got to be joking," Lilith rolled her eyes until they were back to normal and left Sam, making her way to Chuck.  
"Oh, this is no joke," Dean sneered at her and suddenly the room began to tremble like an earthquake was happening. It couldn't be an earthquake though, because blinding white light started pouring in through the windows. "You see, Chuck here's got an archangel on his shoulder. You've got about 10 seconds before this room is full of wrath and you're a piece of charcoal. You sure you want to tangle with that?"  
Lilith didn't see me behind Dean when she looked at him and Chuck, lucky for me; she took one last look at Sam and my mouth fell open as, over Dean's shoulder,  
I watched her head tilt back and black smoke pour out of her mouth and into the ground.  
"Oh my god, what the fuck was that?!" I screamed when everything had gone quiet.  
"That was a demon leaving its vessel and going back to hell, something you better get used to seeing," Dean said to me


	4. Lucifer's Mate

The next couple of weeks that passed were crazy. Castiel got dragged back up to heaven, leaving me and Dean and Sam with his meat-suit, Jimmy, until he dropped back down; we found out Sam was drinking and addicted to demon blood, making me and Dean have to lock him in Bobby's panic room to detox.  
That's where Dean was now, with Bobby, while I was getting beers.  
"Listen Bobby, I need to talk to you about something," Dean said.  
"Besides you're brother drinking demon blood? What now?"  
"It's Sherrie. There's something about her-"  
"What's wrong with her?" Bobby cut Dean off before he could get it out.  
"When Cas first saw her, he said she had a dark side. She got offended, thinking he meant her tattoos and whatever and left to get a coke. He told us that she is another reason Lucifer can't be released from the cage," Dean started telling Bobby.  
"What you talking about, boy?" Bobby frowned.  
"Bobby, Sherrie is Lucifer's true mate and Cas said that if Lucifer rises, her place will be by his side, to help him rule. That's where she belongs, what she was born for," Dean finished.  
Bobby stayed quiet for a couple of seconds before letting out his trademark, "balls!"  
"All Cas has told her is that something will happen to her if Lucifer rises. She doesn't know that she's Lucifer's mate and I've been told that she can't find out."  
When the two of them heard me enter Bobby's house, Bobby tried to act like he didn't know and changed the subject.  
"I'm just wondering . . ." he started, looking at Dean, thoughtfully.  
"What?"  
"The apocalypse being nigh and all . . .is now really the right time to be having this little domestic drama of ours?"  
"What do you mean?" Dean asked, taking a beer off me.  
"Well, I don't like this any more than you do, but Sam can kill demons. He's got a shot at stopping Armageddon."  
"He's got a point, Dean," I cried from the kitchen.  
So, what? Sacrifice Sam's life, his soul, for the greater good? Is that what you're saying? Times are bad so let's use Sam as a nuclear warhead?" Dean started to get a little angry.  
"Look, I know you hate me for suggesting it, I hate me for suggesting it. I love that boy like a son. All I'm saying is maybe he's here right now instead of on the battlefield because we love him too much."  
The next day, me, Dean and Bobby were sat in his living room and hearing a noise, the three of us ran down to panic room.  
Bobby pulled back the window in the door and me and Dean could see Sam on the floor, having a seizure.  
"What if he's faking?" Dean asked.  
"You really think he would?" I looked at Dean.  
"I think he'd do anything."  
We all jumped when Sam's body got slammed against the wall by an invisible force.  
"That ain't faking," Bobby set us straight.  
The three of us charged in and pinned him to the bed.  
"We're gonna have to pin him down for his own safety. Dean? You with me? Dean! Before he has another fit!" Bobby shouted.  
"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get it over with," Dean agreed and I ran off to get some rope.  
Once Sam had been tied down, Dean stayed to keep watch over him and me and Bobby went to get some sleep.  
When I woke up, it was to shouting downstairs; I followed it down to the panic room and walked in just as Dean and Bobby unlocked it and opened the door.  
"What's going on?" I asked, rubbing my eyes, but was ignored.  
"How the hell did he get out?" Dean shouted.  
"Maybe he had help. Room's full of busted devil's traps," Bobby suggested.  
"Demons? Ruby," Dean said the name with venom in his voice.  
"That'd be my guess."  
"How'd she even touch the door?" I asked.  
"What difference does it make? How he got out ain't as important as where he got gone to," Bobby said, looking at me.  
"Well, I sure hope he's with Ruby cause killing hers the next big item on my list," Dean said and stormed up the stairs, determined to find Sam.  
I looked from Dean back to Bobby and he just nodded toward the stairs, telling me, silently, to go with Dean, even though he knew I really shouldn't after what he'd been told by Dean.  
I gave Bobby a quick hug and ran after Dean.  
Later on, in the car, Dean's phone rang and I answered it for him, turning it on loudspeaker.  
"Guys, police found my car. Abandoned in an alley in Jamestown, North Dakota," Bobby told us.  
"He's switching up," Dean said.  
"Any other cars stolen in Jamestown?" I asked.  
"Two. 1999 Honda Civic, blue. Nice and anonymous, like Sam likes."  
"What was the other one?" I asked another question.  
"White oh-five Escalade with custom rims."  
"Nice," I nodded to myself.  
"It's a neon sign," Bobby added.  
"You're right. He'd never take that. Which is exactly what he did," Dean said.  
"We're heading in that direction then?" I asked Dean when Bobby had hung up.  
"Yeah," was all Dean said, keeping his eyes forward and on the road.  
An hour later, Bobby rang us again to let us know that the Escalade was found in a ditch outside Elk River.  
"How far away am I?" Dean asked and Bobby's voice came out of the speaker, "a couple of hours. I pulled up a weather map, made some calls. There's a town not far from there, Cold Spring. Lighting up with demon sign."  
"A good place to look," I said.  
"Hey, listen," Bobby called out before we hung up. "I know you're mad, Dean. I understand. You've got a right to be. Be good to him anyway. You gotta get through to him."  
Dean didn't say anything to this, he just took the phone from my hands and closed it, cutting Bobby off.  
"If I put my foot down, we can make it there in half the time," Dean said to him in a no-nonsense voice and I felt the speed of the car increase.  
An hour and fifteen minutes later, me and Dean were creeping through the halls of the motel that Sam was in and were hiding, watching, when we seen him come out.  
"Ruby must still be in there so you need to stay out here, okay?" Dean whispered.  
"And what do I do if more demons turn up?" I hissed back.  
"Just . . .stay out here," he ordered and went into the room.  
Not even two minutes later, I sensed someone behind me and spun round to come face to face with Sam's chest.  
"What are you doing here? Is Dean with you?" Sam asked.  
When I didn't answer, he fired more questions at me.  
"Where is Dean? Is he here? He's in the room, isn't he?"  
Before I could answer, Sam grabbed my arm and pulled me into the room were Dean and a small, dark haired woman were fighting.  
"No. Let her go. Just take it easy," Sam said to Dean.  
"Well, it must've been some party you two had going, considering how hard you tried to keep us from crashing it. Well, solid try but here we are," Dean sneered, sarcastically.  
At the words 'us' and 'we'. the demon, Ruby, looked at Sam and then down to me and when she saw me her eyes seemed to widen.  
"You're here? I didn't believe that you . . .I mean, wow! The mate, the real mate, here, in the flesh."  
"Wait, what do you mean the mate? Whose mate? What-"  
"Ruby, get out of here," Sam ordered and the demon vanished just like Castiel does.  
"She's poison, Sam," Dean said before I could start demanding answers.  
"It's not what you think, Dean. She was looking for Lilith," Sam replied.  
"That is French for manipulating your ass ten ways from Sunday."  
I wanted to know what Ruby had meant but a gut feeling told me I shouldn't interrupt them.  
"Sam, you're lying to yourself. I just want you to be okay. You would do the same for me. You know you would," Dean said.  
"Just listen for a second, we got a lead on a demon close to Lilith. Come with us, Dean. We'll do this together," Sam tried to reason.  
"That sounds great. As long as it's you and me."  
I coughed in the background and Dean added, "and Sherrie. Demon bitch is a deal breaker. You kiss her goodbye, we can go right now."  
"I can't," Sam refused, shaking his head and Dean just nodded. "Dean, I need her to help me kill Lilith. I know you can't wrap your head around it but maybe one day you'll understand. I'm the only one who can do this."  
"Yeah? You're not gonna do a single damn thing."  
Standing witnessing this was starting to make me just a bit uncomfortable.  
"Stop bossing me around, Dean. Look, I'm asking you, for once, trust me," Sam begged.  
Dean muttered something that I wasn't close enough to hear but Sam was and I gasped as Sam threw a punch at Dean.  
"You don't know me. You never did and you never will," Sam spat and turned, walking away.  
"You walk out that door, you don't ever come back," Dean ordered.  
Sam looked at him and then at me, his eyes filling with water, and he turned and walked out the door.  
"Dean, what was that Ruby on about? I'm a mate, THE mate. Whose? Did you know?" I started questioning him.  
"Now is not the time," Dean replied, getting up off the floor.  
"Tell me or I'll find out another way. I have a right to know! Whose mate am I? Does this have something to do with what angel-boy said would happen to me if Lucifer rises?"  
Dean looked at me, fighting with himself whether to tell me or not.  
"Tell me! Whose mate am I, Dean?"  
"Lucifer's. You are Lucifer's mate."


	5. Lucifer Rising

This is a bit of a long chapter and don't worry readers, Lucifer is coming! And he and my OC will be together!

* * *

"Lucifer. You're Lucifer's mate," Dean said.  
I stayed quiet for a couple of seconds, processing what he'd just said and then burst out laughing.  
"Are you seriously telling me what I think you're telling me? I'm supposed to be Lucifer's . . .what? Fuck buddy? Lucifer's bitch? Yeah, I may feel some sympathy for him but that's all. I ain't gonna run off with him and play Pretty Woman."  
"Pretty Woman? Seriously?" Dean raised an eyebrow.  
"Oh shut up, you know what I mean," I rolled my eyes.  
"If things go wrong and Lucifer rises, then yeah, you will run off with him. It's the same as Lilith turning up to Sam back at the motel, it can't be stopped. Come on, let's head back to Bobby's."  
Everything I'd just been told had stunned me into silence and when Dean held out his hand, I just walked past him and down to the impala; I didn't say one word all the way back to Bobby's,  
I just kept thinking, 'I'm supposed to be Lucifer's bitch? Mrs Lucifer? The female antichrist. That means I'll get dragged down to Hell. Sam and Dean will try an kill me. Oh god, oh god, oh god.'  
I must have fell asleep because when I opened my eyes, I was still sat in the front seat of the impala but it was parked in front of Bobby's.  
When I let myself in, Bobby was standing in the middle of the room, holding some papers and Dean was stood at the window, apparently sulking.  
"He's your brother. And he's drowning," Bobby shot at Dean.  
It seems I'd walked into some kind of heated debate.  
"Bobby, I tried to help him, I did. Look what happened," Dean sighed and turned around.  
"So try again."  
"It's too late."  
Bobby was going to say something but noticed I was stood in the room. "So, you found out?"  
"You knew too?" I asked.  
"Yeah, I'm sorry. We were told you couldn't find out," Bobby answered.  
I walked to the nearest chair and dropped down.  
"Is there any way I can stop this from happening?" I looked from him to Dean and back again.  
"From what I understand, you're not going to want it to stop," Dean spoke.  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
"It means that the minute you see Lucifer you are going to want to go with him and nothing we say or do is going to be able to stop you. The only thing we CAN do is stop him from rising."  
"Great," I muttered under my breath.  
"So, Sam. Are you going to call him or what?" Bobby steered the conversation back to where it was before they noticed me.  
"Sam's gone. He's gone. I'm not even sure he's still my brother anymore."  
I wasn't expecting Bobby's anger, it didn't happen often so I nearly jumped out of my chair when he swept everything off the table, sending paper and books tumbling everywhere.  
"You stupid, stupid son of a bitch! Well, boo hoo, I'm so sorry you're feelings are hurt, princess!"  
I had to hide my smile with my hand; Bobby had a way with words that always made me smile, whatever mood I was in.  
"Are you under the impression that family's supposed to make you feel good?! Make you an apple pie, maybe? They're supposed to make you miserable! That's why they're family!"  
"I told him 'you walk out that door, you don't come back' and he walked out anyway! That was his choice!" Dean shouted back and turned to face the window again.  
I leant forward, resting my head in my hands and my elbows on my knees. I hated fighting.  
When I looked up, it was only me and Dean and we were in some fancy green room that I had never seen before.  
"Dean? Dean, what's happened? Where are we?" I jumped up and ran over to him.  
Instead of looking at me, he was focused on something behind me and when I turned round, I saw Castiel stood in the room also.  
"Hello Dean, hello Sherrie. It's almost time."  
I don't know what he meant by that but I knew it wasn't good!

* * *

Studying the room, there was a table with beers and burgers on, obviously more so for Dean than for me. "Hello Dean, you're looking fit," said another man who had appeared.  
I was guessing this guy was an angel as well, although his meat-suit could have been better. He was tall and quite chubby with thinking grey hair and like Castiel, by his side, he was wearing a suit.  
"So, what is this? Where are we?" Dean asked.  
"Call it . . .a green room. We're closing in on the grand finale here. We want to keep you safe before show time. And you, we can't risk you getting saved for Lucifer. The last thing we need is someone to help him if he is released," the angel aimed the last part at me.  
"Who are you? Who is this, Castiel?" I leant to the side to ask Castiel.  
"Oh, my apologies. I am Zachariah, archangel."  
"The archangel on Chuck's shoulder by any chance?"  
"Exactly," Zachariah smiled at me.  
"Start talking, chuckles," Dean said, beside me.  
The archangel sighed and told Dean, "all the seals have fallen. Except one."  
"That's an impressive score. That's . . .that's right up there with the Washington Generals," Dean replied, sarcastically.  
"You think your sarcasm's appropriate, do you? Considering . . .you started all this? But the final seal . . .it'll be different," Zachariah said.  
"Why?" I asked.  
"Lilith has to break it. She's the only one who can. Tomorrow night."  
Castiel was just stood behind the archangel, quiet and avoiding looking at me and Dean.  
"I'm supposed to be the one that stops her, how? With the knife?" Dean asked.  
"All in good time," was Zachariah's answer before he and Castiel disappeared.  
Dean took a deep breath and began pacing, walking the length of the room, while I was sat at the table. "Ah, screw it," Dean muttered and I watched him pull his phone out.  
I had a good idea who he was calling so I decided to keep quiet.  
"Hey, it's me, uh . . .Look, I'll just get right to it. I'm still pissed . . .and I owe you a beat down. But . . .I shouldn't have said what I said. You know, I'm not dad. We're brothers. And, uh . . .no matter how bad it gets, that doesn't change. Sammy, I'm sorry." Dean closed the phone and just looked at it.  
"Dean, you know what will make you feel a little better?"  
He turned to look at me with a questioning look and watched as I walked to an angel figure on the side and nudged it off; Dean smiled slightly and copied me.  
"You asked to see me?" Castiel appeared and we both looked at each other, guiltily.  
"Yeah, listen, I, uh, I-I need something," Dean stuttered.  
"Anything," Castiel said, a tiny smile on his face.  
When Dean seemed to struggle over his words, I filled in for him.  
"He-we need you to take us to see Sam."  
"Why?"  
"There's something I gotta talk to him about," Dean said.  
"What's that?"  
Sarcastically, Dean answered, "the B.M. I took this morning. What's it to you? Just make it snappy."  
"I don't think that's wise," Castiel advised.  
This angel could be really annoying at times.  
"Screw this, I'm out of here," Dean said and turned to the doors of the room.  
Castiel looked at me, then back at Dean. "Through what door?"  
Both me and Dean frowned at the angel and turned to face the doors at the same time, only the doors had been replaced by a smooth wall.  
I was still studying the wall when Dean turned to see Castiel had gone.  
"Damn it."  
What seemed like hours later, Castiel appeared in the room and grabbed Dean, forcing him against the wall, his hand over Dean's mouth. I was about to shout at him, but the look he gave me told me we had to be silent for a reason.  
I nodded at the same time as Dean and I watched as Castiel let Dean go.  
We both watched as Castiel drew a knife across his arm, breaking the skin and, with the other hand, he cupped the blood and smeared it on the wall in some kind of sigil.  
"Castiel! Would you mind explaining what the hell you're doing?" Zachariah shouted when he appeared in the room.  
Castiel said nothing but finished the drawing and slammed his palm into the center of it, making Zachariah disappear in a bright, white light.  
"He won't be gone long. We have to find Sam now. We have to stop him, Dean, from killing Lilith," Castiel said, hurried.  
"But Lilith's gonna break the final seal," I jumped in before Dean could.  
"Lilith is the final seal. She dies, the end begins. I know that you know about your fate and none of us want that for you. Not Dean or Sam or Bobby or me want you to take your place beside Lucifer. It's not right and it shouldn't happen."  
"But it will . . ." I looked at him, knowing what went unsaid.  
"If we don't stop Lilith from being killed," Castiel said, nodding.  
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Dean cried.  
Castiel laid his hands on each of us and we were immediately in Chucks living room; there, Chuck told us where Sam was.  
"St. Mary's? What is that, a convent?" Dean asked.  
"Yeah, but you guys aren't supposed to be there. You're not in this story," Chuck shook his head.  
"Yeah, well . . . " Castiel looked at Dean. "We're making it up as we go along."  
In front of Chuck, his computer started flickering and a rumbling started, accompanied by a bright white light.  
"This happened at the motel," I said.  
"Aw, man! Not again! No!" Chuck cried out.  
"It's the archangel!" Castiel shouted and turned to me and Dean. "I'll hold him off! I'll hold them all off! Just stop Sam!"  
Castiel's hands were slapped onto both of our foreheads and we were teleported to St. Mary's empty convent.  
When me and Dean turned a corner, we saw Sam and Ruby in front of an alter with Lilith sat down against it, her arms spread in a crucified-like position.  
Ruby turned round and saw me and Dean and right before she slammed the doors shut in our face, she looked at me and said, "we're going to be great friends."  
"Sam! Sam!" Dean started banging both of fists on the door while I stood motionless, frozen.  
'_We're going to be great friends_.' It made me question if I was wrong, thinking I could refuse being Lucifer's mate. Everyone thought so, even the demons seemed thrilled about it.  
Through the doors, me and Dean could hear Ruby saying to Sam, "you did it. I mean, it was a little touch-and-go there for a while . . .but you did it!"  
"What? What did I do?" Sam asked, sounding panicked and Dean carried on trying to get in.  
"You opened the door. And now he's free at last! He's free at last! And he's mate is right outside!"  
"No, no, no. No, he - Lilith - I stopped her. I killed her!" Sam shouted.  
"And it is written that the first demon shall be the last seal!" Ruby cried out and Dean look back to me. His lips were moving but I was too focused listening to Ruby to hear Dean.  
"And you burst her open. Now guess who's coming to dinner!"  
"Oh, my god," Sam said.  
"Guess again."  
Finally, Dean broke in and I watched the doors swing open, watched him charge toward Ruby with the knife.  
I slowly followed him, feeling scared of what was going to happen to me. I still had time, didn't I? Lucifer was free now but he still hadn't risen yet.  
Ruby looked at me and smiled. "Lucifer is going to be so pleased with you, you're perfect for him. And Dean, it's too late."  
"I don't care," Dean said and responded by grabbing the demon, spinning her round and plunging the knife into her back.  
I watched her crumple to the floor, dead, and looked to Sam, who looked broken. "I'm sorry."  
I walked up to Sam and held his arm, letting him know I understood none of this was his fault.  
The blood pouring out of Lilith appeared to have finished it's pattern on the floor, a circle with some kind of wavy lines inside, and from the center of it, a bright light shot up, the convent around us starting to tremble.  
"Sam, Sherrie! let's go!" Dean shouted at us.  
I tried to pull Sam away but he continued to stand looking at the circle and uttered the words:  
"Dean . . .he's coming."


	6. Seperate Ways

Once me and Dean had gotten Sam out of the convent, we all piled into the impala and headed to Chucks.  
We got inside but he was nowhere to be seen, the house was empty so we spread out, looking around. "Geez! Ow!" Sam cried out as Chuck appeared and hit him on the head with a plunger.  
"Hey Chuck," Dean said.  
"So . . .you're okay?" Chuck asked, looking at Sam.  
"Well, my head hurts," Sam answered, rubbing his head.  
"No, I mean-I mean, my-my last vision. You went, like, full-on Vader. Your body temperature was one-fifty. Your heart rate was two hundred. Your eyes were black," Chuck babbled on, nervously, in a way I was getting used to.  
"Your eyes went black?" Dean asked Sam.  
"I didn't know," Sam looked over his shoulder at Dean.  
"Where's Castiel?" I asked.  
"He's dead. Or gone. The archangel smote the crap out of him. I'm sorry," Chuck said, sorrow in his eyes. "You sure? I mean, maybe he just vanished into the light or something," Dean said, sounded a little upset.  
"Oh, no. He, like, exploded. Like a water balloon of chunky soup."  
"So, what now?" Sam asked.  
"Oh, crap," Chuck said, his face falling. "I can feel them."  
"Thought we'd find you here," Zachariah appeared behind me, Sam and Dean and we all spun round.  
"We need to strike now, hard and fast-before Lucifer finds his vessel."  
"His vessel? Lucifer needs a meat-suit?" Sam asked.  
It seems the trauma of everything that had just happened had made him forget that he was Lucifer's true vessel. I knew that he knew that but I didn't know if the angels knew that. I was guessing not.  
"He is an angel. Them's the rules," Zachariah answered. "And when he touches down, we're talking Four Horsemen, red oceans, fiery skies, the greatest hits. You can stop him, Dean, but you need our help."  
"I-I don't want that," I shook my head furiously.  
"I'm sorry sweetheart but all that will change the second your eyes connect. I believe you're already starting to seek him out, even if it's in here," Zachariah set me straight and touched his temple. Somehow, Dean had managed to cut his hand and draw a sigil on the back of a door and the archangel's face froze when he realized something was happening. "You're bleeding."  
Dean slapped his hand on the sigil and Zachariah vanished into the white light.  
"Learnt that from my friend, Cas, you son of a bitch."  
"This sucks ass," Chuck shook his head.  
"You want to tell me what the hell he meant by you already seeking out Lucifer?" Dean growled at me. "I-I don't know. I don't want to find Lucifer, I don't even want to see him! That's the last thing I want!" I cried at them.  
"Do you feel any different?" Chuck asked me.  
Now that it was mentioned, I started to realize that I was indeed slowly starting to feel different.  
By not answering, I'd dropped myself in it and I knew when I saw Sam rubbing his face and Dean staring at the ceiling.  
"We're going to get a motel room and we're going to talk about this," Dean said and left without saying anything to Chuck.  
"Come on," Sam said and followed Dean.  
Before leaving as well, I turned back to Chuck and gave him a small smile, then closed the door behind me.  
In the motel, Sam pulled something from his shirt and threw one to me and one to Dean.  
"Here. Hex bags. No way angels will find us with those. Demons either, for that matter."  
"Where'd you get it?" Dean asked.  
"I made it."  
Dean said nothing and turned to me. "So, wanna tell us what's going on with you?"  
"What do you mean?" I asked, innocently.  
"You know damn well what I mean."  
"Dean," Sam tried to calm his brother down.  
"Your freaky feelings? What are they? Want to cut open a cat and do black mass?"  
"Don't be so stupid! I don't know how I'm feeling, I . . .it just feels like a really tiny hole is growing, like when you get dumped. Oh my god, I really don't like how that sounds," I looked up at them, scared. "Don't worry. We're going to do what Castiel told us to so, until we send Lucifer back to Hell, we will be with you and making sure that no demon finds you and Lucifer doesn't get near you. You won't have to see him," Sam tried to reassure me, sitting next to me.  
I just nodded and stayed silent for the rest of the night.

* * *

The next day, Bobby turned up, hugging us all, one after the other.  
"It's good to see you all in one piece, especially you," he said, spending extra time hugging me and then filled us in on what he'd found on sending Lucifer back to hell; that the sword of Michael was on earth and that the angels had lost it.  
"You think we're talking about the actual sword from an actual archangel?" Dean raised an eyebrow. Bobby opened a book and turned it so me, Sam and Dean could all see. "That's Michael. Toughest son of a bitch they got. He commands the heavenly host. During the last big dust-up upstairs, he was the one who booted Lucifer's ass to the basement. Did it with that sword. So if we can find it-"  
"We can kick the devil's ass all over again. All right. So, where do we start?" Sam asked.  
"Divvy up at start reading-try and make sense of Chuck's nonsense," Bobby replied.  
Sam paused, looked at the books and then back, before crumbling. "Bobby, this is all my fault, I'm sorry." "Sam . . ." Dean tried to intervene but failed.  
"Lilith did not break the final seal. Lilith was the final seal."  
"You what?"  
"You guys warned me about Ruby, the demon blood, but I didn't listen. I brought this on."  
I watched Bobby stand up and walk toward Sam.  
"You're damn right you didn't listen. You were reckless and selfish and arrogant," he said, getting angry. "I'm sorry."  
"Oh yeah? You're sorry you started Armageddon? This kind of thing don't get forgiven, boy. If, by some miracle, we pull this off . . .I want you to lose my number. You understand me?"  
Sam's expression didn't change so I guess this was roughly what he was expecting.  
After making some quiet excuse about checking out a church, he slipped out of the door and the minute he was gone, Bobby turned round and grabbed Dean, slamming his head into a wall and knocking him out.  
"Bobby! What the fucking hell do you think you're doing?!" I screamed.  
My question was answered when he turned round and looked at me through black eyes.  
"You're-you're not . . .Bobby," I backed away.  
"No, he's not but don't worry, you'll get to know him and me, we're going to be great friends," said a woman as she walked through the door.  
I looked at her; her brown hair and round face and smug smile.  
"Funny, that's what Ruby said right before Dean ganked her," I spat out and tried to run but the Bobby demon grabbed me in time and forced me down as he bound me.  
Still bound up, fifteen minutes later, I watched the female demon pull Dean to his feet while the Bobby-demon stood by my side like a bodyguard.  
"I always knew you were a big, dumb, slow, dim pain in the ass, Dean. But I never dreamed you were so V.I.P. I mean, you're going to ice the devil? You? If I'd have known that, I'd have ripped your pretty, pretty face off ages ago."  
"Ruby."  
"No, Dean. It's not Ruby," I shook my head and Dean's eyes widened when he saw my position.  
"The mate is right. Go back further," the woman smiled at me.  
"Meg?" Dean asked.  
"Hi. These are the days of miracle and wonder,. Dean. Our father's among us. You know we're all dreaming again for the first time since we were human? It's heaven on earth. Or hell. We really owe your brother a fruit basket. And you," Meg walked over to me. "Lucifer is going to be so happy you're here, he's going to be so happy with me for bringing you to him. You know, there are so many demons that can't wait to meet you. They're all really happy that you're going to make our father happy."  
"My god, you like the sound of your own voice," Dean said from the other side of the room and I had to laugh. It was too hard to hold back.  
"Well, I'm sorry that I can't stay much longer, after all, I have what I came for," Meg signaled to the Bobby-demon and he held Ruby's knife to my throat, keeping me at bay.  
"You wouldn't dare hurt her, just think what Lucifer would do to you," Dean sneered.  
Meg headed back to Dean and as she walked away, the black in the Bobby-demon's eyes faded and I watched as Bobby stabbed himself.  
"NOOO!" I screamed.  
When Meg turned round, Dean took the opportunity to rush her and Sam walked in at just that moment and after taking in what was going on, he grabbed the knife from Bobby's stomach and ran towards Meg. Meg saw Sam from the corner of her eye and before he could plunge the knife in, Meg vanished in a mass of black smoke and the female body fell to the floor.  
Once Bobby had been taken to the hospital, the three of us headed back to the motel and inside, waiting for us, was Castiel.  
"Cas? How are you . . ."  
"Alive? That's a good question," the angel spoke when Dean couldn't ask. "You need to be more careful. Lucifer is circling his vessel. And once he takes it, those hex bags won't be enough to protect you."  
"Wait, I thought Sam was Lucifer's vessel?" I asked.  
"That is true but he will need a vessel for the time being," Castiel answered and, one by one, he put a hand on each of our chests, making us gasp.  
"What the hell was that?" Dean asked.  
"An Enochian sigil. It'll hide you from every angel in creation, including Lucifer. I carved it into your ribs." After a moments silence, Sam spoke. "Hey Cas, were you really dead?"  
"Yes."  
"Then how are you back?" Dean asked.  
Castiel didn't even pause to answer, he just vanished.  
"What do you think his vessel's gonna look like?" I asked Sam and Dean.  
"It doesn't matter cause you're not going to see it," Dean said and looked at me with an expression that said, 'end of conversation'.

* * *

I spent the next six hours going over everything that happened with Bobby and couldn't take it.  
"Sherrie, what's wrong? Something's wrong, I can tell," Sam sat opposite me.  
"Bobby is in the hospital and he's never going to walk again. It's because of me. Don't you see? If I hadn't been with you, then the demon wouldn't have had to possess Bobby to get close to me and if the demon hadn't possessed Bobby, he wouldn't have stabbed himself putting us back to square one," I said and started chewing my lip.  
"Bobby did it to protect you, to save from getting taken by the demon. Please don't tell me you're thinking . . ." Sam started to asked but paused.  
"I don't know what I'm thinking." I sighed and shook my head, lost and confused and not knowing what to do.  
"I know how it feels to be fighting inside," Sam said and Dean overheard.  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
"I know you don't trust me," Sam answered and Dean looked away.  
"Just, now I realize something. I don't trust me either. From the moment I pulled that knife out of Bobby, only thoughts in my head . . .and I tell myself it's for the right reasons, my intentions are good, and it, it feels true, you know? But underneath . . .I just miss the feeling. I know how messed up that sounds, which means I know how messed up I am. Thing is, the problem's not the demon blood, not really. I mean, I, what I did, I can't blame the blood on Ruby or . . .anything. The problem's me. How far I'll go. There's something in me that . . .scares the hell out of me, Dean. In the last couple of days, I caught another glimpse."  
"So, what are you saying?" I asked before Dean could.  
"I'm in no shape to be hunting. I need to step back cause I'm dangerous. Maybe it's best we just . . .go our separate ways," Sam answered, looking between us.  
Dean seemed to consider this and I started thinking myself.  
If Sam wasn't safe to be hunting, then neither was I. Look what'd happened to Bobby, because of me and if Sam DID leave, Dean couldn't hunt AND keep an eye on me, keep Lucifer away from me, keep me safe from demons.  
"Well, I think you're right," Dean said and me and Sam looked at each other, shocked.  
"The truth is I spend more time worrying about you than doing the job right and I just, I can't afford that, you know? Not now."  
"I'm sorry, Dean," Sam said, showing his infamous puppy eyes and he stood up.  
"Wait. Sam, if you're leaving, then I'm coming with you," I joined him on my feet.  
"What? Why?" Dean asked.  
I told him everything that I had just thought and understanding immediately flooded his face.  
"Take care of her, Sammy. Make sure-"  
"I will. Lucifer won't get within fifty feet of her," Sam gave Dean his word.  
"And you. Take care of yourself, Sammy."  
Me and Sam both looked at Dean and then Sam led me out, closing the door behind us.


	7. Is This The End?

It had been two weeks since me and Sam had left Dean and he felt happier than he had in a while. Until the night Zachariah paid a visit.  
Dean closed his eyes to have a sleep and when he opened them, everything outside had been trashed, destroyed, devastated. Like something from Resident Evil.  
When he left the motel, the first thing he saw was graffiti on a garage door. Big red letters spelling out the word CROATOAN.  
Dean saw the little girl next and noticed the blood dripping from her mouth but before he could talk to her or do anything, more people appeared from one direction and from the other, soldiers on tanks, shooting the people.  
"Oh crap," Dean said to himself and ran.  
He broke through a fence, and there was a sign posted that he stopped to read.  
Croatoan Virus. Hot Zone. No Entry. By order of acting regional command. August 1, 2014. Kansas.  
"August first, 2014," Dean read aloud.  
He couldn't think of anything else to do but hotwire the nearest car and get the hell out of there, head to Bobby's.  
It would take a few hours but Dean didn't care.  
Dean was still driving when the day had turned to night and he turned on the radio to static.  
"That's never a good sign."  
"'Croatoan pandemic reaches Australia'," Zachariah appeared in the passenger seat, reading from a newspaper and startling Dean.  
"I thought I smelled your stink on this Back to the Future crap. How did you find me?"  
"Afraid we had to tap some unorthodox resources of late-human informants. We've been making inspirational visits to the fringier Christian groups. They've been given your image, told to keep an eye out," Zachariah explained.  
"The bible freak outside the motel?" Dean guessed, remembering a preacher-bloke from outside his motel, back in his time. "Okay, well, good, great. You've had your jollies, now send me back, you son of a bitch."  
"Oh, you'll get back all in good time. We want you to marinate for a bit."  
"Marinate?" Dean raised an eyebrow.  
"Three days, Dean. Three days to see where this course of action takes you," the archangel replied.  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
"It means this is the world if you and Sam and Sherrie stay apart. Sam isn't strong without you and he will crumble and become Lucifer's vessel. Sherrie, well we already know there's not stopping that," Zachariah explained. "Have a little look, see, decide if you really are happy being apart from Sam."  
Dean was about to argue about what was said about me but the archangel had disappeared.

At Bobby's, Dean was only there five minutes. It was enough time to find a black and white photo of a bunch of men beside a wooden sign.  
"Camp Chitaqua," Dean said.  
On closer inspection, Dean recognized two of the men in the photo.  
Bobby was sat in his wheelchair, glaring at something to the side and aiming a shotgun at it.  
Castiel was stood behind Bobby and he also had a shotgun, casually laid in his arm, but he was dressed completely different; he was wearing blue denim jeans, a t-shirt and a casual, baggy jacket. The other three Dean didn't know.  
He spun round and left the house, taking the photo with him, knowing just where to go.  
As Dean approached the sign from the photo the next night, he saw armed men patrolling the other side of the fence so he was careful to move. And then he saw the impala.  
The front side windows were smashed with the passenger door hanging open, the paintwork was scratched and the metal dented and bent.  
"Oh, baby, no. Oh, no, baby, what did they do to you?"  
Bending to look inside the car, he heard a noise behind him but didn't have time to even turn his head before he was knocked out.  
When he came to, he discovered his right hand handcuffed to a ladder and a version of himself across the room, cleaning a gun.  
"What the hell?"  
"I should be asking that question, don't you think? In fact, why don't you give me one good reason why I shouldn't gank you right here and now?" 2014 Dean asked.  
"Because you'd only be hurting yourself," Dean tried to joke to ease the situation.  
"Funny."  
"Look man, I'm not shapeshifter or demon or anything, okay?"  
"Yeah, I know, I did the drill while you were out. Silver, salt, holy water-nothing. But you know what was funny? Was that you had every hidden lock pick, box cutter, and switchblade that I carry. Now, you wanna explain that? Oh, and the, uh, resemblance while you're at it," 2014 Dean said, snottily.  
"Zachariah," is all that Dean said, but enough to make 2014 Dean stand up and ask him to repeat himself.  
"I'm you from the tail end of 2009. Zach plucked me from my bed and threw me five years into the future."  
"Where is he? I want to see him," 2014 Dean demanded.  
"I don't know," Dean shrugged.  
2014 Dean walked over to his past self and bent down to face him. "Okay. If you're me then tell me something only I would know."  
Dean thought for a couple of seconds and a smirk spread over his face.  
"Rhonda Hurley. We were, uh, nineteen. She made us try on her panties. They were pink. And satiny. And you know what? We kind of like it."  
2014 Dean looked with a blank face which changed into an impressed expression. "Touché."  
"So, Croatoan virus, right? That's their endgame?"  
"It's efficient, it's incurable and it's scary as hell. Turns people into monsters. Started hitting the major cities about two years ago," 2014 Dean answered, going back to the table.  
"What about Sam?" Dean asked and watched the future version of himself go rigid.  
"Heavyweight showdown in Detroit. From what I understand, Sam didn't make it."  
"You weren't with him?"  
"No, no, me and Sam, we haven't talked in-hell, five years," 2014 Dean replied.  
"What about Sherrie? Was she with Sam?" Dean asked and 2014 Dean just shrugged.  
"I don't know. I haven't heard anything about her, don't know if that's a good thing or not."  
2014 Dean started holstering his gun and preparing to go out.  
"Whoa, you're just gonna leave me here?" Dean cried.  
"Yes. I got a camp full of twitchy trauma survivors out there with an apocalypse hanging over their head. The last thing they need to see is a version of The Parent Trap. So yeah, you stay locked down."  
When 2014 Dean walked out Dean just muttered, "dick," and looked down to the wooden floor he was sat on.  
Wooden floors had nails in and with that idea, he started picking straight away.  
When Dean had picked the handcuffs and left, he was only out of the cabin seconds before Chuck appeared.  
"Hey, Dean. You got a second?"  
"No-yes. Uh, I-I guess. Hi Chuck," Dean stuttered, feeling a little happy that Chuck had made it.  
"Hi. So, uh, listen, we're pretty good on canned foods for now, but we're down to next to nothing on perishables and-and hygiene supplies. People are not gonna be happy about this. So what do you think?" Chuck asked, holding a clipboard.  
"I-I I don't know. Uh, share?" Dean suggested and suddenly had an idea. "Hey Chuck, is . . .Cas still here?"  
"Yeah. I don't think Cas is going anywhere," Chuck said with a slight laugh.  
Dean frowned, not understanding what was funny, but found out when he got to Cas' cabin.  
Cas' voice flowed out of the door and Dean entered to see him part of a circle of women, speaking to them in a relaxing tone.  
"Now, they key to this total, shared perception-it's, uh, surprisingly physical."  
Dean studied Cas, who was wearing grey sweat pants and a blue flannel shirt, his hear shaggy and a lot longer, his face on its way to growing a beard.  
When he noticed Dean at the door, he flashed a huge grin that past Cas never would have.  
"Oh. Excuse me ladies, I think I have to confer with our fearless leader for a minute. Why not go get washed up for the orgy?"  
Dean couldn't believe what he'd just heard; he couldn't believe what Cas had become, but Cas knew as soon as he saw Dean that he didn't belong.  
"Whoa. Strange."  
"What?" Dean asked.  
"You . . .are not you. Not now you anyway."  
"No! Yeah. Exactly. Now, why don't you strap on your angel wings and fly me back to my page on the calendar," Dean said, eager.  
When Cas burst out laughing, Dean was startled because he'd never heard the angel laugh like this before.  
"I wish I could just, uh, strap on my angel wings, but I'm sorry, no dice."  
"What, are you stoned?" Dean asked.  
"Uh, yeah, generally," Cas said, still laughing slightly.  
"What happened to you?" Dean's face screwed up, confused, and Cas just answered, "Life."

* * *

Later, when 2014 Dean had got back, he got his past self, along with Cas and took them to his cabin, where two more men were waiting and a map was spread across the table.  
"Lucifer is here," 2014 Dean pointed to a part of the map. "I know the map and I know the building."  
"Oh good, it's right in the middle of a hot zone," Cas said, having obviously mastered the art of sarcasm.  
"Crawling with Croats, yeah."  
"Are you saying we, uh, walk in straight up the driveway, past all the demons and the Croats, and we shoot the devil?" The former angel asked.  
"Yes," 2014 Dean said bluntly. "We're loaded and on the road by midnight."  
As the cabin emptied, Dean asked his future self, "why are you taking me?"  
"You're coming because I want you to see something. I want you to see our brother."  
"Sam? I thought he was dead."  
"Sam didn't die in Detroit. He said 'yes'," 2014 Dean sighed.  
"'Yes'?" Dean replied.  
There was a long silence while Dean was left to realise. "Wait, you mean-"  
"That's right. The big 'yes'. To the devil. Lucifer's wearing him to the prom," 2014 Dean said, sounding pretty pissed off.  
"Why would he do that?" Dean asked.  
"Wish I knew. But now we don't have a choice. It's in him and it's not getting out. And we've got to kill him, Dean. And you need to see it-the whole damn thing, how bed it gets-so you can do it different," 2014 Dean answered.  
On the drive to the location on the map that night, Dean rode along with Cas.  
"So, you're not an angel anymore?"  
"Nope, I went mortal," Cas answered.  
"What do you mean? How?"  
"I think it had something to do with the other angels leaving. But when they bailed, my mojo just kind of-psshhew!-drained away. And now, you know, I'm practically human. I mean, Dean, I'm all but useless! Last year, broke my foot, laid up for two months," Cas explained.  
"So, you're human. Well, welcome to the club," Dean said.  
"Thanks. Except I used to belong to a much better club. And now I'm powerless. I'm hapless. I'm hopeless. I mean, why the hell not bury myself in women and decadence, right? It's the end, baby. Why not bang a few gongs before the lights go out?"  
Dean stared at Cas in disbelief and let him carry on driving with the huge smile on his face.  
When the team reached the destination, 2014 Dean sent Cas and the others one way and led past Dean the other; when Dean realised that the future version of himself had just fed Cas and his other friends to the Croats so he could use the diversion, Dean started to go after them but everything went black before he could get more than five steps.  
When he woke up, he was on the ground in a garden and around him, thunder crashed and lightening lit up the skies.  
Opposite, he saw the 2014 version of himself on his back, his neck being held down by somebody in a white shoe and when he opened his eyes, the shoe moved, audibly breaking the neck.  
Dean followed the shoe up to the white suit trousers, the white shirt and the while blazer, then realised that the man wearing the suit was his also wearing his brother. Lucifer.  
Hearing Dean stand up behind him, Lucifer turned round.  
"Oh. Hello, Dean."  
There was more thunder and lightening and Lucifer transported himself to behind Dean.  
"You've come a long way to see this, haven't you?"  
"Well, go ahead. Kill me.," Dean spread his arms.  
"Kill you? That would be a little . . .redundant, wouldn't it? I'm sorry, it must be painful, speaking to me in this-shape. But it had to be your brother. It had to be," Lucifer said, observing a rose in a bush and when he reached toward Dean, Dean flinched and moved.  
"You don't have to be afraid of me, Dean. What do you think I'm going to do."  
"I don't know, maybe deep-fry the planet?"  
"Why? Why would I want to destroy this stunning thing? Beautiful in a trillion different ways. The last perfect handiwork of God. You ever hear the story of how I fell from grace?"  
"Oh, good god, you're not gonna tell me a bedtime story, are you? My stomach's almost out of bile," Dean rolled his eyes.  
"You know why God cast me down? Because I loved him. More than anything. And then God created . . .you. The little . . .hairless apes. And then he asked all of us to bow down before you-to love you, more than him. And I said 'Father, I can't.' I said, 'these humans are flawed, murderous.' And for that, god had Michael cast me into hell. Now, tell me, does the punishment fit the crime? Especially, when I was right? Look at what six billion years has done to this thing, and how many of you blame me for it?"  
Everything Lucifer had just said sank into Dean and made him realise THIS was why I felt sorry for Lucifer and he started looking around for me but when he couldn't see me, relief eased some of the tension inside him.  
"Don't worry, Dean, Sherrie's around here somewhere. We never stray that far from each other, it's too painful. Ah, here is my beauty now."  
Dean turned to face the same direction as Lucifer and watched me walk into the garden and into Lucifer's arms, sharing an intimate kiss with him before looking down at 2014 Dean.  
"Oh dear, not the powerful and almighty you thought that you were, huh?" I smirked.  
"You stupid woman. Can't you see what he's done to you?" Dean spat at me.  
"Let's go, beautiful, you don't need to listen to this," Lucifer placed an arm around me.  
"You better kill me now!" Dean shouted.  
"Pardon?" Lucifer turned back to Dean.  
"You better kill me now. Or I swear, I will find a way to kill you. And I won't stop. You too," Dean looked from Lucifer to me.  
"I know you won't stop and you will definitely not kill her. Whatever you do, you will always end up here. Whatever choices you make, whatever details you alter, we always end up-here. I win," Lucifer said and looked at me, smiling and squeezed me. "In both ways. So, I win."  
"You're wrong," Dean denied.  
"See you in five years, Dean."  
With a rumble of thunder and a flash of lightning, me and Lucifer were gone; Zachariah stood behind Dean and when Dean saw him, he reached forward and touched Dean's head. 


End file.
